Cracking The Code

After sorting through the information that Zhao Zhi collected and coming to a conclusion about the timeline of events, the answer was very clear.

During Zhuang Qingyu’s darkest days of his past, he had suffered greatly and didn’t know who in the world had saved him, but that person was very important to him. Extremely important.

Song Caitang’s eyes glinted intelligently as she said confidently, “Zhuang Qingyu would definitely want to find this person.”

Zhao Zhi nodded. “Initially, he didn’t have time or energy. Zhuang Thunder Pavilion was a mess internally and in a precarious position, while he was still young and had just escaped from a tough imprisonment, so he needed to recuperate and become stronger first. By the time he was good to go, several years had passed. Moreover, Ye Nan’s father had purposely erased all traces of what happened then, so no matter how hard he tried, it came to nothing. That was until…”

Song Caitang got it instantly. “Until he got to know Liao Xingjian and came here.”

“That’s right.”

Befriending Liao Xingjian led him to the Night Sanctum’s headquarters, which was where he recognized Hongfeng.

The timeline of these events was very important.

Song Caitang paused for a moment, then asked, “So, at which point was Zhuang Qingyu saved, then got to know Liao Xingjian, and then came here for the first time?”

“Thirteen years ago, Zhuang Qingyu was in trouble when Ye Nan and Hongfeng happened to be passing by.”

“Wait a minute.” Song Caitang suddenly realized there was another issue. Thirteen years ago meant that… everyone involved was still rather young.

Ye Nan was 23 this year, Hongfeng was older than her by two years. Thirteen years ago meant that one was ten and the other was 12. They were both just children who were still growing.

And Zhuang Qingyu was only 16 then.

He wasn’t an adult yet, but he wasn’t a child either. He was already a teenager.

Also, this was an age when life experiences had the greatest impact on one’s personality.

Which totally made sense.

Zhao Zhi knew what Song Caitang was thinking about, so he paused to give her time to react, then went on, “Ten years ago, Zhuang Qingyu got to know Liao Xingjian and they slowly got closer to one another. Seven years ago, they became best friends and Zhuang Qingyu began to appear frequently in the Sanctum.”

Song Caitang started linking the events together.

“So… seven years ago, Zhuang Qingyu met Hongfeng for the first time in the Sanctum but had no impression of her. More than ten years ago, they had briefly met once and Hongfeng had helped him, but she had concealed her identity and her face, and perhaps they didn’t even know each other’s names. When they met again, they were much older and both their voices and faces would have changed, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t recognize each other. It was only until Ye Nan had snuck out yet again that one night when Hongfeng was guarding her room and Zhuang Qingyu happened to notice what was going on…”

Hongfeng’s role was to protect her employer and didn’t want anyone to find out about what was going on, so her reaction would be different from her usual self and perhaps she had reacted a little too strongly.

Zhao Zhi said earlier that they even ended up in a fight.

“And that was the moment where Zhuang Qingyu recognized Hongfeng.”

That explained why his attitude toward her changed and he started to help her in secret as well as got closer to her.

Zhao Zhi went on, “Zhuang Qingyu is a very clever man who doesn’t show his emotions at all. Regardless of what his feelings are toward Hongfeng, whether it’s admiration or gratitude or something else, he would not express any of it outwardly. So, I’m inclined to believe that Hongfeng herself had no idea about any of this.”

The information they had gathered so far proved that much.

“Perhaps Zhuang Qingyu had tried to sound her out and felt bad that she was merely a servant, so he might have deliberately tried to lead her or influenced her in some way.”

That might have been why Hongfeng stopped obsessing over Xin Yongwang and no longer sought him out.

Perhaps, as Zhuang Qingyu interacted more with Hongfeng, he fell in love with her and schemed to make Hongfeng give up Xin Yongwang.

Either way, it showed that he was pretty invested in her emotionally.

Song Caitang sighed. “So, when Hongfeng died six years ago, it must have been a terrible blow to him.”

He had been searching for the one who had rescued him out of darkness for many years to no avail and had finally found her and finally got the chance to repay her for what she had done. But their time together turned out to be so short. Within a year, or even less than that, before he could even do anything, the person whom he wanted to repay and cherish had left the world.

Of course he would be indignant. Of course he would want to take revenge.

But unfortunately, Ye Nan and Liao Xingjian had covered up Hongfeng’s death and refused to release any details, which made it seem like they were covering up something…

It made sense that Zhuang Qingyu would misunderstand and make nasty guesses about what really happened.

Song Caitang looked up at Zhao Zhi. “If everything really happened the way we think it did and Zhuang Qingyu wanted revenge, what sort of plan would he come up with to kill them?”

“He might not want them to pay for it with their lives per se,” said Zhao Zhi, “but he’d definitely make sure he causes them maximum pain.”

Based on Zhuang Qingyu’s personality, Song Caitang felt that Zhao Zhi was probably right. But what would cause maximum pain? “So… something like inflicting just enough pain that they don’t die?”

Zhao Zhi’s lips curled up slightly.

He looked at her quietly as he said in a faraway voice, “That’s the right concept, but it doesn’t always have to be physical pain.”

Song Caitang blinked as she stared at him, her entire expression saying, “Please tell me more”.

“Take what you want the most, or what you’re proudest of, and smash it to smithereens,” Zhao Zhi’s gaze was faraway as he spoke. “The stronger one’s will is, the more broken they will become when such a thing happens.”

“What do Ye Nan and Liao Xingjian want the most? What are they proudest of?”

Song Caitang felt like all the clouds in her mind had cleared up. “It’s… their relationship!”

She had heard Ye Nan talk about this more than once, and it was clear that this relationship was extremely important to her and was pretty much her top priority in life. It was as though this relationship was her best achievement in life, the one thing she was proudest of, and the ultimate goal to work toward in order to live a blissful life.

This relationship was exclusive, genuine, pure and indestructible.

If it was destroyed, her life would lose meaning. Her spirit would die even if she was still physically breathing. The future would hold nothing for her.

She had never suffered in life, or perhaps no suffering was enough for her to call it that. But if something bad happened to this relationship, her path ahead would suddenly be filled with thorns and become impossible to get through.

Ye Nan felt this way about their relationship. Would Liao Xingjian have felt the same way?

If he did… then everything else could be explained easily.

“Millet’s Dream,” Song Caitang suddenly mentioned this substance, “Where does it come from?”

Zhao Zhi was silent for a long time before he gripped his teacup and downed the entire cup.

“It’s a drug that… a poisoner in the martial arts world with a very strange temperament created. It’s toxic but not fatal, so while you won’t die after consuming it, its effects are far reaching.”

Song Caitang was not very well versed in such uncommon drugs and she wasn’t trying to ask about its components or effects either. She wanted to know, “Can one get their hands on it easily?”

Zhao Zhi shook his head. “That poisoner has already died and left very little behind, so you can’t get it even if you have lots of money. There’s nowhere to buy it from.”

“Then Zhuang Qingyu…”

“Zhuang Thunder Pavilion was a huge mess back then, but Zhuang Qingyu did have a subordinate from Shu who was a poisoner.”

“So, he might have had a chance to get his hands on it.”

Zhao Zhi nodded. “He did have a chance, but he might not have bought it.”

As long as he had a chance.

Song Caitang continued thinking.

After analyzing the case from these various angles, she could eliminate Xu Deye from the list of suspects. As for Xin Yongwang… unless he had an accomplice.

Zhuang Qingyu remained their biggest suspect so far.

If he was really the one behind all of this, then after he had successfully lured Ye Nan and Liao Xingjian out, poisoned them with Millet’s Dream and watched them drift apart and suffer such pain, he must be very happy about it.

“In any case, these are all simply conjectures and we don’t have evidence…” Song Caitang ran a finger around her teacup absentmindedly. “What about the almonds? Any clues?”

Zhao Zhi stared at her long, slim finger and forced himself to look away. “I’ve gotten a few clues but I still need some time.”

“I see…” Song Caitang frowned slightly as she tried to think if there was anything else she needed to work on.

“Compared to that,” Zhao Zhi pointed out something else, “I have some guesses about where the victim’s missing notes are.”

Song Caitang immediately perked up. “Oh? Where are they?”

“There’s a hidden room inside the victim’s room that’s locked with a code, but I’ve not been able to guess the code correctly. I could destroy the lock with brute force, but I’m afraid the owner might have installed some sort of alarm that will go off once the lock is broken.”

And if they caused a commotion this way, that would be bad.

Zhao Zhi stared intently at Song Caitang as if he was keen to invite her somewhere. “Do you want to go over and take a look?”

She got up immediately. “Sure.”

Under the cover of the night, two people – one tall, one short; one broad, one slim – slowly and quietly made their way toward Liao Xingjian’s study again.

Song Caitang had no idea how to search for a hidden room, so even after she walked around the room and stared hard, she couldn’t find it and could only blink innocently at Zhao Zhi for help.

Perhaps this helpless stare pleased Zhao Zhi. His lips curled into a smile as he coolly walked over to the book shelf and gently pushed the shelf with his palm.

The shelf moved away to reveal a door.

The silent room, the dark night sky that was lit up by the dim moonlight, the low and dull sound of the shelf sliding to the side…

This was visually astounding to Song Caitang.

There was really a hidden room here!

So, about that code…

Song Caitang noticed a set of movable blocks above the doorframe. That was basically a Klotski puzzle. Ancient China had a similar variation.

It was a very old puzzle game that required one to find a way to slide the other blocks around to get one particular block out.

She turned to Zhao Zhi with a puzzled look on her face. “You don’t know how to work this out?”

This should be a piece of a cake to him.

Zhao Zhi’s large hand moved the blocks about quickly and the door opened the moment the largest block slid out.

He smiled. “I wasn’t talking about this.”

“Oh.” So there was more inside, huh.

The room was pitch black and required lights, so Zhao Zhi lit the wall light with a match.

The space wasn’t very large, since it was just a small corner of the study. But it was filled to the brim. There was calligraphy on the wall, scrolls on the table, all sorts of ornaments on the shelves…

Some were valuable treasures that gleamed brightly, some were expensive collectibles, some were dangerous weapons. All sorts of things could be found here.

This place seemed to be Liao Xingjian’s treasure trove.

Of course, since Liao Xingjian had grown up in this place and was betrothed to Ye Nan, his standing in the sect was very high and he probably had another larger storage space that could keep way more things than this. This room was probably just part of his collection. Probably the ones he loved best.

They might not be the most valuable, but they were definitely the most meaningful to him.

Song Caitang scanned everything in the room, including the paintings and calligraphy on the wall.

After a long time, she finally asked Zhao Zhi, “So, where’s the thing you were talking about?”

Zhao Zhi led her to one of the shelves and pointed to the wall next to it. “There’s something in here.”

Song Caitang stared hard at it but she couldn’t see which part of this wall was different from the rest.

Zhao Zhi used his knuckles to gently tap on the surrounding wall for her to hear.

When he saw that Song Caitang looked just as confused as ever, he gave her a hint, “The sound here is louder than the sound there.”

Song Caitang swore she had really listened very intently earlier, but she really, really couldn’t tell the difference…

She could only conclude that she had a lousy pair of ears.

Zhao Zhi consoled her, “The hidden compartment is probably very small, so the difference in sound isn’t very obvious and it’s only normal for one to have trouble differentiating.”

Song Caitang glared at him.

Stop pretending to be nice! I can tell you’re laughing at me!

Zhao Zhi cleared his throat and tried to be serious again, “When clever people hide something important, they’ll try to hide it somewhere that’s least noticeable. He has many shiny things on the table and the shelves, so they’re very prominent and all that, but they’re nowhere as precious as whatever’s inside here.”

Song Caitang understood that logic. Whatever was hidden carefully in this compartment would be way more important than all the treasures inside this room.

Perhaps…

This entire hidden room of obvious treasures was actually to hide the fact that there was one more tiny compartment that hid things that were actually important.

“There are no contraptions in the wall, so there’s nothing I can do to make it open up or anything like that. After observing for a long time, I finally discovered something here…”

Zhao Zhi pointed to a lock around the shelf next to it. “I think this lock is connected to the hidden compartment.”

Song Caitang took a closer look.

The hidden compartment was in the wall, about a foot away from the shelf. There were exquisite hollow carvings into the side of the shelf and a small, longish, lock with no sharp corners was looped around the carvings.

And it was locked.

The tiny lock was made from gold and bronze and had no keyhole. There was a bar on top and a few rings below that were tightly fitted next to one another. The rings had numbers carved on it and could be rotated.

This was probably a number lock of sorts, but both the shape of the lock and where it had been placed seemed completely random, as though it had been given to some kid to play with and was casually put back here.

She couldn’t see how this lock could possibly be linked to a compartment in the wall.

But she trusted Zhao Zhi.

If she cracked the code, that is, if she found the correct number combination, the lock would be unlocked and the compartment would be opened?

The code…

“Liao Xingjian’s birthday?”

Zhao Zhi shook his head. “Didn’t work.”

“Xi Rui’s child’s birthday?”

Zhao Zhi shook his head again. “Didn’t work either.”

He had already tried all the combinations that most people would think of that were connected to Liao Xingjian, but none of them were right.

Song Caitang frowned hard.

What could it be?

What would be very important to Liao Xingjian?

Such locks wouldn’t have meaningless number combinations.

After she tried other guesses and they were all incorrect, she started looking around the room.

What could it be?

All of a sudden, her gaze stopped at the paintings hanging above the compartment.

They were both paintings by famous painters.

One was an ink painting of a mountain and river that was artistically drawn with some clouds, some fog with some pleasing greenery. It was soothing to look at.

One was the back view of a beautiful woman looking to the side. Her facial features were not obvious, but her slim back made one imagine that she must be very pretty, like a fairy on earth.

There was no pattern among the paintings. She couldn’t tell which mountains or rivers these were, or who the person in the painting was supposed to be.

There were also no special markings on the paintings.

But maybe to Liao Xingjian…

It had come to a point where nothing in the room was helping, so Song Caitang decided to be a little more creative. “Do you think it could be the day he saw Ye Nan for the first time after regaining his memory four years ago?”

After losing his memory then, Liao Xingjian seemed to place great importance on memories. Could it be that he was afraid that he would forget again, so he hung these two paintings to remind himself at all times, to remind himself of this day, to remember the love he shared with Ye Nan?

It was Zhao Zhi’s turn to frown.

He had no idea what day that was.

But Song Caitang’s eyes lit up. “I know which day it was. It was the 3rd day of the 8th month.”

If you added the year, that would be exactly six digits, which was what the lock required.

Zhao Zhi immediately started rotating the rings.

Song Caitang stared at the lock unblinkingly.

The rings made a small clicking sound as they turned, and she felt her heart pound at the same speed.

It was just a matter of seconds, but she held her breath nervously and felt like an entire lifetime had passed.

Click! The lock was opened.

“It opened!”

Her guess had been right!

Song Caitang was overjoyed.

But the hidden compartment Zhao Zhi pointed out… didn’t move at all.

She looked at him.

“Be patient.”

Zhao Zhi patted her head.

Before she could protest, something really started moving.

Once the lock was removed from the shelf, the carvings moved aside rapidly and revealed a hole in the wall where the shelf met with the wall. Something swooshed out from inside the hole and landed in front of them.

Zhao Zhi gave a pleased smile. “It’s out.”

Song Caitang had no idea how large the compartment was, but what came out was a box that was just a little larger than her palm and filled with a thick stack of papers with words on them.

The handwriting belonged to Liao Xingjian.

All this time, Song Caitang had been wondering what sort of person the victim was.

At first, she thought of him as a jerk, since he let his wife down and didn’t seem responsible toward his mistress and son, so he was just enjoying himself selfishly. Later, she felt that he was actually quite pitiful. Ye Nan was too devoted to him and Xi Rui kicked up a big fuss all the time, so it was impossible for them to get along well. He couldn’t make everyone happy but couldn’t let go of either. He was probably more of a pacifist.

And after she read through the thick stack of notes, she understood.

She understood clearly what sort of person Liao Xingjian was.